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Cinnamon-Roasted Almonds!

About: I'm a chef with aspirations of opening my own late-night cafe in Sacramento, CA. It's where I call home and it would be a dream come true. Beyond my cooking skills, I'm a certified Jedi master, grand master...
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Welcome to my first Instructable, everyone! I appreciate you stopping by and exploring my wonderful world of eat-ables.

This Instructable will cover the creation of Cinnamon-Roasted Almonds! Just like the ones you get from the fair minus the copper kettle cooker thingy.

It's super duper simple, even my kitchen-challenged friend Allyson can handle it. I love her to death, but she burns water. It's intense.

Step 1: Ingredients and Tools Needed.

Here's the list of stuff we'll need, why they're being used and where to find them.

The Edibles1 egg white1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups o' raw almonds (the bulk section of your local grocery store. If not there, check a Trader Joe's or something)

The Workables1 large bowl1 medium bowl1 small bowl1 whiskCookie sheets (quantity changes based on how many almonds you're making) -- I used two sheets for this project.

Step 2: Preheat the Oven!

Ok! Time to get ready to make some kitchen magic!

First, we have to PREHEAT the OVEN to 250 degrees F (which is roughly 120 degrees C).

[I often forget to do this first, so when everything's ready to go in, I have to wait another twenty minutes because I'm an idiot.]

"But Jason, why such a low oven temperature? I want to eat these delicious crunchy almonds as soon as possible!"

Let me answer that for you using a combination of kitchen-science facts and making-stuff-up-based-on-assumed-facts:

Almonds are dense critters. Seriously, cut one in half and you'll see what I'm talking about. Also, there's a fair bit of water in them. So through a combination of trial-and-error and watching "Good Eats", cooking foods with a lot of water in them at a lower temperature for a longer amount of time gets rid of MORE water without comprimising the quality of the food. In this case, we don't want burnt almonds, we just want thoroughly roasted almonds.

Step 3: Beat the Egg Like It Owes You Money!

Yes. I said it. Beat it that hard. In fact, we want the eggs to be SUPER frothy, but please don't beat them until they are stiff. [Sidenote for your foodies out there: We want the eggs just short of soft peaks.]

But BEFORE we actually assault the eggs, we need to add a little something to make the eggs frothy without turning into souffle stuffs. Hence, the vanilla.

So add that teaspoon of vanilla and then start whisking. You will develop serious whisking muscles, so don't stop when it starts to hurt. Just push on through! I believe in you!

Step 4: On to the Dry Goods!

Now that you've finished whisking the egg whites, it's time to move on to the dry goods.

In the medium bowl, combine the sugars, salt and cinnamon until it's a pretty brownish-white mixture. It will look EXACTLY as you expect it to look.

Set aside.

Step 5: Time to Get Messy!

Here's the fun part:

Now you're going to dump the almonds into the large bowl and then pour the egg white-vanilla mixture all over them. I used the whisk (minimizing clean-up is huge for me) to make sure that every almond is thoroughly covered in the eggy stuff, but I suppose you could use your hands, too.

Either way, you're about 90% done!

Step 6: Sheet It Up!

Theoretically, your oven should be hot enough now, so we're just about finished and on our way to crunchy yummy almonds.

Break out your cookie sheets and make sure you grease them a bit. I used Pam For Baking, but you could also use parchment paper for even easier clean-up.

Once your sheets are prepared, dump the slimy almonds in a single layer across the sheets. A little easier said than done, but just work with them and they'll straighten out.

Now that they're on the sheets, take the sugar mixture and beginning LIBERALLY covering the almonds with the stuff. I don't have a picture of THAT step, but it's pretty self-explanatory. If possible, save just a little bit of the sugar mixture for use in the next step.

So close, folks!

Step 7: Cook the Suckers!

Yay! We're almost done! Give yourself a pat on the back because you're about to take a nice one hour break.

Go ahead and throw the cookie sheets in the oven. I used the top and third-from-the-top racks, but in the end, it doesn't really matter. Now you just set the timer for one hour and fifteen minutes.

At the same time, set a separate timer for twenty minutes. When this second timer goes off, just give the almonds in the oven a quick mix-up, but make sure to get them back in a single layer. And if you saved any of the sugar mixture, go ahead and sprinkle the remaining stuff over the almonds. That'll make sure that everyone of them is covered in goodness.

Just for good measure, go ahead and check the almonds again towards the last twenty minutes and give them another quick mix. That way, any almonds you might have missed are getting direct heat.

Step 8: Aaaaand DONE! WHOO!

Once the last time goes off, go ahead and yank them out of the oven! They're going to be hot, so don't go diving in right away.

Give them about ten minutes or so to cool and give one a taste. If it's crunchy, sweet, salty and a little buttery, you have successfully roasted almonds. Congrats!

If they don't taste very good, pop them back in for another ten to fifteen minutes and then try. They SHOULD be good by then.

These are great as gifts or as just a snack. I bring them to work with me and sneak one out of the pocket every couple of minutes. Just don't let your boss see you eating, or you'll probably get in trouble. :)

i wonder if one could use black walnuts instead of almonds. I have access to a rather large amount of free black walnuts. I'm a big fan of almonds, but i'm a bigger fan of free! lol... i wonder if the cook times and everything would work the same? I shall have to try.... anyways, so yummy looking and if the walnut things works for me, i just may be using these in my yearly homemade X-mas baskets! Great instructable!

yesssssssss, these are WONDERFUL. being a cinnamon freak, i added MUCH more cinnamon (ie 4 tablespoons instead of a half teaspoon), and they could have handled a bit more :)
i baked them on baking paper on trays, but should have sprayed spray oil on the paper first, as they stuck a bit (not too badly, but oil would have made it easier).
also, i think next time (yes, next time!) i will coat the almonds with the egg, sprinkle them with the sugar, and bake for 30 mins at 120 celsius, remove from the oven and cool for 20, then coat with egg and sugar again before cooking for 45 mins to achieve a thicker coating of crunch.
am keeping the leftover sugar for topping banana cake with, or stirring into coffee :D
lovely, thanks!!

Yeah, I have a little plastic container that has some left-over cinnamon-sugar-salt mixture that I like to sprinkle on my Cheerios. It's pretty tasty.
I wonder what would happen you dropped a couple of your finished almonds into your coffee? Experiment time!

the leftover sugar is really nice in coffee :) i think i will cook them about 10 mins less next time- the nute are much nicer the next day, but have revealed themselves to be a tad over-roasted (don't be afraid to pull them out early- you can always stick them back in :)

They look super appetizing when they're in a bowl or a pretty bag, too. It's hard to part with them.
Just don't eat too many or you'll get sick like I did when I ended up almost eating like... a cup and a half's worth. It hurt so good... :P